Improving the patient experience is an ongoing challenge for healthcare organizations. Despite continuous efforts to emulate other industries’ approaches to improving their customer experience, the unique complexities of the healthcare industry make delivering a consistently outstanding patient experience a difficult task.
This was the central theme of a roundtable discussion at Becker’s Hospital Review 15th Annual Meeting, sponsored by Optum. The roundtable, moderated by Ken Leonczyk, senior vice president, Enterprise Partnerships, and Andrew Sasso, senior vice president, provider market, brought together healthcare leaders from across the country.
Three key insights:
- For patients, healthcare is fraught with friction at nearly every turn. Common issues include being repeatedly asked to fill out intake forms with information the organization already has, receiving inaccurate billing statements, and dealing with unhelpful customer service representatives.
“We have lowered our customer service standards so much because there’s [diminished] real-life interaction between people,” one roundtable participant observed. “People have become used to interacting with their phones [instead of with other people].”
Another participant pointed out that while healthcare organizations are focused on improving efficiencies and standardizing processes, they frequently overlook the human aspects of providing care. For instance, patients who arrive on time for an appointment often end up waiting 30 minutes or more because the doctor is running behind schedule.
“If somebody [a physician’s assistant or a front-desk staff member] would say to a patient waiting to be seen, ‘We are sorry, the doctor is running behind,’ it would go a long way to balance patients’ expectations. That’s what patients are looking for — a personal touch and communication,” another participant said.
- A positive patient experience starts with a positive employee experience. Patient-facing roles, such as front-desk receptionists and intake clerks, are some of the lowest-paid roles in healthcare. Yet, these individuals are often the first face of the organization that patients see and experience. So, if these individuals are underpaid, they cannot be faulted for failing to provide a stellar patient experience.
“With patient registration, patient contact and customer service roles being such an important part of the full patient experience, why have we as an industry treated that front-end engagement process like the lowest part?” one participant asked.
Another often-overlooked aspect for employees in these roles is career progression. One attendee said her organization would like to upskill front-desk employees so they can offer more types of assistance to patients, such as helping them schedule an appointment with the right provider. However, union policies can sometimes hinder these efforts by imposing rigid job descriptions and limiting opportunities for skill enhancement and career advancement
For clinicians, improving the employee experience means using tools such as ambient listening and note-taking tools that reduce administrative burden on staff and lets them focus fully on patients.
“We’ve seen our patient satisfaction scores go up because patients feel heard, listened to and focused on,” a participant said. “Meanwhile, the providers are super happy [with using ambient technology] because they can make it home to have dinner with their families and there’s less pajama time after hours completing documentation.”
- Provider organizations are using different tactics to improve the patient experience. Those tactics include role playing with staff members to practice talking to patients with empathy and grace, especially when answering tough patient questions and in situations where a staff member is providing information a patient may not like.
Another approach is inviting patients’ input during leadership rounds with staff. “Make sure you talk to patients and if there is a problem, you hit it hard,” one participant said. She described how a problem raised by a patient moves up the chain of command at her organization until it gets resolved. “It goes from the person who deals with the problem in the moment to the manager, then to the quality director and then ends up with me as the CEO. We see that person and make sure on a continuous basis that we have met their needs.”
The roundtable discussion underscored that improving the patient experience in healthcare requires a multifaceted approach. And addressing the friction points in patient interactions, emphasizing the human touch, and ensuring a positive employee experience are all critical components. By focusing on these areas and involving both staff and patients in the process, healthcare organizations can create a more compassionate and efficient environment that truly meets the needs of those they serve.
